He Xiaoming
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, 1080 Carmack Road, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2017 Jul;45(7):1676-1684. doi: 10.1007/s10439-017-1823-7. Epub 2017 Mar 20.
The ovarian follicle that contains one single oocyte is the fundamental functional tissue unit of mammalian ovary. Therefore, isolation and in vitro culture of ovarian follicles to obtain fertilizable oocytes are regarded as a promising strategy for women to combat infertility. In this communication, we performed a brief survey of studies on microfluidic encapsulation of ovarian follicles in core-shell hydrogel microcapsules for biomimetic 3D culture. These studies highlighted that recapitulation of the mechanical heterogeneity of the extracellular matrix in ovary is crucial for in vitro culture to develop early pre-antral follicles to the antral stage, and for the release of cumulus-oocyte complex (COC) from antral follicles in vitro. The hydrogel encapsulation-based biomimetic culture system and the microfluidic technology may be invaluable to facilitate follicle culture as a viable option for restoring women's fertility in the clinic.
含有单个卵母细胞的卵巢卵泡是哺乳动物卵巢的基本功能组织单位。因此，分离并体外培养卵巢卵泡以获得可受精的卵母细胞被视为女性对抗不孕症的一种有前景的策略。在本通讯中，我们简要综述了关于在核壳水凝胶微胶囊中对卵巢卵泡进行微流控封装以用于仿生三维培养的研究。这些研究强调，重现卵巢细胞外基质的机械异质性对于体外培养将早期前卵泡发育至窦状卵泡阶段以及对于体外从窦状卵泡中释放卵丘-卵母细胞复合体（COC）至关重要。基于水凝胶封装的仿生培养系统和微流控技术对于促进卵泡培养作为临床上恢复女性生育能力的可行选择可能具有重要价值。
